Sexual harassment needs to be stopped in Leicester
Olivia's story
In April 2022, Olivia Beam was just trying to celebrate her 21st birthday. She finished the night forgetting she even went out to celebrate, as Olivia is now left traumatised and scarred by the events that followed. She shares her experience here.
It’s 12am, and on the cold, porcelain-tiled floor of the Leicestershire nightclub toilets, Olivia Beam* cannot stop crying.
This is not how the 21-year-old wanted her birthday to end. She’s barely drunk. She’s fairly tired. And the man on the other side of the toilet wall has just sexually assaulted her in plain sight.
But, the question that Olivia keeps coming back to is: How? How in a busy room full of people, most of whom are her friends, has a man reached down her skirt and been allowed to grope her, traumatise her, without anyone saying anything. It’s a terrifying thought. But a notion all too familiar for young women like Olivia.
“I have not been able to go to a nightclub since,” says Olivia. “And I know what a common story this is.
“Every time I have ever gone out with my girlfriends, there is always, without fail, an incident like this. It has become so normalised that I think some girls just accept it. But it's not okay.”
Olivia says she regrets ever going out on her 21st birthday on that murky April evening last year. But why is it the victim who regrets their decision? She was just trying to celebrate a big milestone in her life. She did not ask for this.
“I don’t want to talk about what happened that night so much. Too many bad memories. But, it's how I felt after which I feel is more important,” says Olivia.
“I have not been able to have fun in the same way since. I have not drank alcohol at all, I have not gone out, and I have not been able to even be intimate with anyone.
“It really hurt me. I have been paranoid ever since.”
Olivia reaches for a tissue to wipe away her slow stream of tears.
The way that Olivia does find comfort, though, is talking. She encourages anyone
who has gone through what he has, to speak out.
“More people have to report this kind of thing. That is how we will be taken more
seriously. Too many boys think it's okay to make girls feel like this, and too many
girls just allow it,” she says.
“It's wrong. There needs to be change.”
If you or anyone you know has been affected by this article, please contact Victim Support at vicitimsupport.org.uk or call 08 08 16 89 111
*For the privacy of the victim the name of the interviewee has been changed.
